ZnO for Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Generation

Dina Bakranova () and David Nagel ()
Additional contact information
Dina Bakranova: School of Natural and Social Sciences, Kazakh-British Technical University, Almaty 050000, Kazakhstan
David Nagel: Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, George Washington University, Washington, DC 200052, USA

Clean Technol., 2023, vol. 5, issue 4, 1-21

Abstract: The rise in the Earth’s surface temperature on an annual basis has stimulated scientific and engineering interest in developing and implementing alternative energy sources. Besides cost, the main requirements for alternative energy sources are renewability and environmental friendliness. A prominent representative that allows the production of “green” energy is the conversion of solar photons into a practical energy source. Among the existing approaches in solar energy conversion, the process of photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen extraction from water, which mimics natural photosynthesis, is promising. However, direct decomposition of water by sunlight is practically impossible since water is transparent to light waves longer than 190 nm. Therefore, applying a photoelectrochemical process using semiconductor materials and organic compounds is necessary. Semiconductor materials possessing appropriately positioned valence and conduction bands are vital constituents of photoelectrodes. Certain materials exhibit semiconductor characteristics that facilitate the reduction-oxidation (RedOx) reaction of water (H 2 O) under specific circumstances. ZnO holds a unique position in the field of photocatalysis due to its outstanding characteristics, including remarkable electron mobility, high thermal conductivity, transparency, and more. This article offers an overview of studies exploring ZnO’s role as a photocatalyst in the generation of hydrogen from water.

Keywords: ZnO; photocatalysis; plasmonic; nanocomposites; thin films (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/5/4/63/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/5/4/63/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jcltec:v:5:y:2023:i:4:p:63-1268:d:1263481

Access Statistics for this article

Clean Technol. is currently edited by Ms. Shary Song

More articles in Clean Technol. from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().